Islanders 2, Rangers 1 (shootout)
Click here to read my game story from lohud.com.
Click here for the boxscore with links to the game summary, etc.
Thoughts:
1) In my mind there’s not even a question that that was the Rangers’ best game of the season, the game in which they most looked like last year’s Rangers – minus the scoring. I don’t even know which game would be a close second, if any. I mean, I have memory problems sometimes, so maybe I forgot one. Anybody? But I think most of you will be happy if they play with that kind of tempo, toughness, skill and effort most of the time.
2) But, again, what a stupid, crappy, smelly way to decide a very intense, hard-played hockey game. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I will say this. The Rangers seemed to understand that it was a well-earned point, as a tie would be in the olden days. And they’re smart and honest enough to know that this was way, way, way better than many of their wins, and far and away a huge improvement over their previous five games, two of which were wins.
3) Alain Vigneault was right, that it was a good time for the Rangers to play the Islanders, that they knew what they needed to do, and (I think it was implied) that the natural venom of the rivalry would get the Rangers to finally figure out some things. That the Islanders would be a natural elixir to a lot of the things that ailed the Rangers so far this season.
4) Meanwhile, the Rangers had never apologized for any of their unsightly wins, nor should they, but they understood it wasn’t good enough. Just like they understood that, despite it being one of those crappy skills-competition losses, this effort was good enough, or damn close to it.
5) “Any time you play these guys it adds another element to the game,” Marc Staal said about what was arguably the Rangers best complete game of the season. “You’re emotionally involved before you step on the ice. … to bad it had to end that way.”
6) “It was just a good atmosphere for us to get our game going here,” agreed Dan Girardi. “We controlled our effort tonight. It’s definitely a step forward. It was pretty close to a 60-minute game, I think.”
7) I thought the Rangers matched the Islanders’ intensity right from the start – which is rare, you know, given that it’s always Game 7 for the Islanders – and played a smart, disciplined and simple game early. Were the much better team for a while. And they sustained a high level of play throughout. Or maybe I was just too far away to tell.
8) Hard to believe, but the Rangers are 7-1-2 in their last 10 road games against the Islanders (including Yankee Stadium) since Nov. 15, 2011, and 15-5-2 in their last 22 road games vs. the former November Champs, since March 6, 2008.
9) So the Islanders take the nightly too-many-men penalty during the 3-on-3 gimmick, and Jack Capuano sends John Tavares to serve it and set up the Jack In The Box play. I saw that coming from the moment Capuano put him in there.
10) There was some post-game discussion about that. I love that play. Some people in Brooklyn were discussing whether it was too risky, that what if the Rangers took a penalty during the two minutes? The Islanders would be without Tavares for the resulting 3-on-3. I think it’s a great gamble, and it very nearly paid off.
11) Henrik Lundqvist stopped him. This was Lundqvist’s best game in a while, too, since the Nashville shutout. He had 36 saves on 37 shots through OT, allowing only an uncontested 5-on-3 goal to one of the best players in the world. The guy Jaroslav Halak down the other end was pretty darn good, too. Wonder if Vigneault goes to Antti Raanta Thursday. I’d bet Lundqvist wants to play.
12) The more I see of this 3-on-3, the more gimmicky it looks. And the more I see of these players virtually coming to a complete stop during the shootouts, the dumber and dumber that gimmick gets. And Larry Brooks was dead-on last week when he said that the six-forward teams at the all-star 3-on-3-O-Rama are going to be dead on their feet. It will be slower than a shootout by the end. And the NHL will be very lucky if there aren’t injuries. Somebody didn’t think it through, and it’s hard to believe the players union rubber stamped it.
13) Daily Nash-O-Meter. Didn’t get on the sheet again, but had another strong game. Nash likes to throw those bad angle passes into the goalie’s skates, and the Rangers nearly got one off of it. Pierre Larouche made a nice living doing that. Well, a little less of a living than Nash makes.
14) Tanner Glass. I thought that was the right call-up for this particular game. They needed a fourth-line right winger, needed some sandpaper, needed somebody who wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the rivalry or the noise in the building or the atmosphere. Well, it turned out that Glass played on the third line, had a couple early hacks at pucks around the goalmouth. Then two more from a bit farther out in the middle of the period. Good for him. Not sure how long he stays here, if he even plays Thursday vs. Colorado if Emerson Etem’s feeling better, not sure if he goes on the trip even though the Rangers ant an extra forward (and an extra D-man) for that trip. And he can probably only stay as long as Derek Stepan’s on LTIR anyway. We’ll see.
15) If he can play this well – a big IF, based on how he played last season – and the Rangers can keep McIlrath in the lineup relatively regularly, that changes the complexion of the team, in my opinion and I’m sure in a lot of your opinions. They look a lot more capable of playing any type of game. Again, big IF.
16) The decision by Vigneault to use Glass on that line allowed him to keep Stalberg on the fourth, and Stalberg scored the only goal of the game, a pretty great play all around. Stalberg won a battle behind the net, Dominic Moore wound it around the wall, Kevin Hayes smartly let it go back to the point and Marc Staal fired it toward the net. It hit Tavares’ stick and Stalberg pounced on the loose puck in one motion, knocking it through Halak.
17) Keith Yandle took a needless penalty in the neutral zone, complicated by Dan Girardi flipping one over the glass for a long 5-on-3, and putting it on a tee for Tavares, who walked out of the corner and, helped by a pick from Anders Lee on Staal, and a hesitation by Jesper Fast, moved uncontested into the slot to beat a helpless Lundqvist.
18) Apologies, in my game story I tagged Stalberg with the penalty that Yandle actually took before the Girardi penalty. I was pretty close to the moon in the pressbox in the far corner, and thought it was Stalberg. Sorry. Girardi said he was trying to make the right play, high off the glass, and the puck flipped up on edge on him. He said he was headed for the penalty box the moment the puck left his stickblade.
19) Dylan McIlrath. IMO, this was his best game, and he didn’t have to fight to make it so. He shot the puck. He hung in there just fine against a fast team. He didn’t look jittery. This is an enormous opportunity for him, these three weeks while Kevin Klein is out. I thought he had hiccups in the two games where he had those big hits and fights, and in Brooklyn I don’t remember one.
20) The Rangers shot the puck … even Derick Brassard, who had one forced pass, I thought, but was credited with five shots on goal, including the one-time blast from the slot off the Yandle pass. The kid has a rocket when he wants to shoot it. Was a force for the second game in a row. Chris Kreider twice had shots and hesitated a beat too long, but at least he shot, which is better than hesitating and getting no shot off. Every now and again in these last few games, I see a glimpse of Kreider turning a corner. Then I don’t.
21) Kreider had that wrestling match with Travis Hamonic. Two bears.
22) Speaking of turning corners … Dan Boyle played a second strong game in a row. Yeah, for him. Maybe his best of the season? You have to give it to him, that he competes. So did Yandle, who had a bit of an edge all night. And whatever you thought about Boyle’s shootout shot, it almost worked.
23) Matt Martin was still running around a little bit, Cal Clutterbuck a little less so, with McIlrath and Glass in the lineup. But maybe Martin was a little quieter than usual. Martin won’t fight Glass or McIlrath, though. Martin’s hit totals are completely padded by the home scorers. But I’d take him on my team in a second. McIlrath was face to face with him late third and smartly kept his poise.
24) By the way, if you need evidence that the hit-counter in Brooklyn (must have made the move from Uniondale) has a happy-hit finger, the Rangers were credited with a season-high 52 hits in this game. I believe they were very physical, probably as much as they were in any game. I don’t believe they actually had 52.
25) I still don’t get it. First period, Jarret Stoll ices the puck. The Islanders are going to get to the dots first, it’s going to be hybrid icing. But Moore sprints down the ice anyway. Why? Seriously, with the icing rule and the no-change rule, this is the one time in sports where it pays to slow down. A good excuse to break into a Robinson Cano. Maybe hockey players aren’t wired that way. Maybe it has to be coached.
26) Speaking of which, the Rangers got caught after an icing in the second, with the third line, Staal and McIlrath on the ice, and Capuano got the Tavares line out for the offensive draw. It was probably the worst Rangers shift of the game, but Lundqvist with a glove-and-hold got them out of it. The Islanders seemed to get a lot of jump off of that shift.
27) Then the dangler Hayes drew a penalty to Josh Bailey, but Rangers, with a decent power play, couldn’t convert, even though Halak had to stop a couple of deflected shots, one of those fired by Hayes, one by Ryan McDonagh. At least they turned back the Islanders’ push for a while.
28) How about AV using J.T. Miller on the power-play point? I like it. I thought the kid was a beast in this game.
29) That building is much, much, much, much louder than MSG. Maybe I need to type “much” a few more times. And it was probably more than 60-40 Rangers fans.
30) My takes on the building: A bit too much Pit Bull, though I don’t mind a little bit. Dale’. And during warmups, just a bit too much volume on Drake with all his N-words and F-words. MSG beats Brooklyn pressbox in a blowout. MSG hamburgers by a landslide over Brooklyn burgers. Brooklyn (Nathan’s) fries handily over MSG’s fries. Or so I’m told.
31) It was only about a 21-22 minute subway ride from Grand Central. Probably a slightly longer distance from the pressbox to the far goal. Guessing that if this was an arena that regularly sold out, the SUV behind the corner glass would be taking up about $40,000 worth of seats every night.
32) I love those military tributes during TV timeouts. I really do. They’re wonderful. I just wish they didn’t have a sponsor attached to them. Unless, of course, the sponsor is forking over some cash to military families.
33) Whenever I see Clark Gillies, who was at the game, I think, “That guy is in the Hall of Fame?”
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My Three Rangers Stars:
1. Henrik Lundqvist.
2. Viktor Stalberg.
3. Derick Brassard.
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Kenny Albert’s Three Rangers Stars:
1. Henrik Lundqvist.
2. J.T. Miller.
3. Dylan McIlrath.
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Your poll vote for Three Rangers Stars:
1. Henrik Lundqvist.
2. Keith Yandle.
3. Tie, J.T. Miller, Viktor Stalberg, Tanner Glass
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Photos by Getty Images.
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